About 80 percent of the estimated 70.000-200.000 comfort women Japan took by coercion from 1932-1945 were Korean. The Japanese government claims that the 1965 Japan-Republic of Korea (ROK) Normalization Treaty is the authority to support its argument that the comfort women do not have a claim at international law but they were not even mentioned in it. The issue was long neglected for pragmatic reasons. When Korean women raised the issue around 1990 and the former comfort woman Kim Hak-sun came out in 1991, it emerged as a point of dispute. Japan has given no official apology to the victims. Museums in Seoul and Tokyo focus on victims' sufferings enhancing understanding. The feeling of guilt regarding an unresolved issue should be enhanced among visitors. Only time will tell if the 70th anniversary of World War II and the 50th anniversary of the Normalization Treaty in 2015 will become an opportunity to resolve the issue.

About 80 percent of the estimated 70.000-200.000 comfort women Japan took by coercion from 1932-1945 were Korean. The Japanese government claims that the 1965 Japan-Republic of Korea (ROK) Normalization Treaty is the authority to support its argument that the comfort women do not have a claim at international law but they were not even mentioned in it. The issue was long neglected for pragmatic reasons. When Korean women raised the issue around 1990 and the former comfort woman Kim Hak-sun came out in 1991, it emerged as a point of dispute. Japan has given no official apology to the victims. Museums in Seoul and Tokyo focus on victims' sufferings enhancing understanding. The feeling of guilt regarding an unresolved issue should be enhanced among visitors. Only time will tell if the 70th anniversary of World War II and the 50th anniversary of the Normalization Treaty in 2015 will become an opportunity to resolve the issue.

Although South Korea has accomplished a democratic transition, democraticconsolidation has not been achieved. The study investigates this notion on thebasis of criteria of democratic consolidation, how the presidents have fulfilledtheir promises on the deepening of democracy and how the Articles in the1987 Constitution on democracy have been implemented. What developmentssupport and disapprove this notion? The interaction between domestic politicsand the implementation of the Constitution during the presidents’ five yearterms in office is analyzed. Great consideration is put on the Confucian impacton politics and the short period of implementing democracy.

Over a year since its report was published, what are the implications and limitations of the UN Commission of Inquiry’s investigation into human rights violations in North Korea, and what is the best strategy for the international community to pursue in dealing with the issue? Gabriel Jonsson argues that a two-pronged strategy which continues to apply pressure at the same time as seeking dialogue with Pyongyang could constitute a better approach.

In 1991 South Korea, along with North Korea, was made an official member of the UN. Using international relations theory, this book begins by looking at the struggle and eventual impact of the membership on the two countries post division in 1948. It investigates the predicted outcomes prior to joining, and whether these outcomes have come to fruition nationally and on a global scale. Following this, there is focus on South Korea's ability to exert an influence on international decision making in world-politics, and how this affected inter-Korean relations. Importantly, analysis looks at how participation in the Security Council (1996–1997 and 2013–2014) further extended the country's capabilities to adopt resolutions, including those affecting North Korea's missile and nuclear programmes and human rights record. South Korea's participation in peacekeeping operations, Koreans appointed to high positions within the UN system and payments of the UN budget are also investigated. The study concludes with discussion of the role of the UN as a forum for international contacts and for providing knowledge otherwise unavailable to non-members.

South Korea in the United Nations is unique in its analysis of South Korea's relations with the UN prior to and, above all, after 1991, thereby enhancing understanding of the significance of its UN membership as well as the importance of being a UN member. Suitable for scholars in Korean studies, international relations and East Asian politics, it can also be used as a reference work by policy-makers in the region, and for students and professionals working within the UN system.